Mission & Justice

Habib Toumi; 31/10/08

An ominous dressing down from Islamists MPs concerned about “indecent outfits” has forced organisers of an international volleyball tournament to cancel a women’s exhibition match. Bahrain is currently hosting the penultimate stage of the Swatch-Federation Internationale de Volley Ball (FIVB) Beach Volley World Tour in which 24 teams are vying for the top honours. An exhibition match between two women’s teams was scheduled for Saturday, but mounting pressure from lawmakers, led by MP for the Islamic Menbar Mohammad Khalid and independent Salafi MP Jassem Al Saeedi, has led to its cancellation.

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9/8/08

Imposing the death penalty for those disclosing state secrets and documents to enemy countries as part of a proposed law was criticised by leading human rights group here on day. The Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) highlighted in a statement its concern for the bill tabled by five members to the upper house for including the death sentence in new legislation despite worldwide rejection of such punishment. “Lawmakers should keep up with international trends while drafting their legislation as many countries are fighting to scrap the death penalty in their outdated laws, while here we are reimposing it,” a BHRWS member and member of the upper house, Faisal Fulad said in the statement.

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Habib Toumi; 19/6/08

A human rights watchdog has asked the government to fully comply with the Paris Principles in the nomination of the members of the national human rights commission it is planning to set up. “The composition of the national commission should be in accordance with the Paris Principles to ensure the pluralist representation of the civilian society involved in the protection and promotion of human rights,” Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) said on Tuesday. “The members should represent the non-governmental organisations, experts, the parliament, trade unions and concerned social and professional organisations. If the commission is to include representatives of government departments, they should participate in the deliberations only in an advisory capacity,” BHRS said in a statement to the press.

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